COVID-19 Maharashtra Update: Night Curfew extended in Pune till March 14

According to the guidelines, no public movement will be allowed in Pune city between 11 pm and 6 am, except for essential services.

Moneycontrol News

February 28, 2021 / 05:43 PM IST

Pune has so far recorded 4,06,453 COVID-19 cases, with 3,87,527 recoveries.

All schools, colleges, coaching classes and other educational institutions will remain shut in Pune as night curfew has been extended till March 14 in the city.

A night curfew was imposed in the city from February 21- February 28, due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

No public movement will be allowed in Pune city between 11 pm and 6 am, except for essential services.

"Schools, colleges, private coaching classes here to remain closed till 14th March, due to the rise in COVID-19 cases. No public movement expect essential services allowed between 11pm to 6am. Restrictions imposed in Pune city earlier extended till 14 March," told Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol to ANI.

Similarly, the lockdown in Maharashtra's Amravati was also extended till March 8. Yavatmal's District Collector M Devender Singh also announced a curfew in the district from February 27 to March 1. The essential services are exempted from the curfew.

Pune has so far recorded 4,06,453 COVID-19 cases, with 3,87,527 recoveries. The active cases in Pune till February 27 stood at 9,860, while the death toll is at 9,235.

The State Health Department informed on February 27 that Maharashtra reported 8,623 new COVID-19 cases, 3,648 recoveries, and 51 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Earlier Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had directed senior officials to take strict action against people or organisations who flout COVID-19 guidelines.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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